Chapter 14
Audrey & Edwin
Audrey's POV
The moment my fingers touched the blank pages, text appeared. I watched in awe as the scrawling letters curled across the white paper, almost as though written by an invisible hand.
I have to be dreaming, I thought to myself as 1 slowly stood, my eyes fixed on the page. Surely I was asleep, otherwise, this would never be happening
But even so, I carefully carried the book over to a nearby desk and sank down into the leather chair. Furrowing my brow, I pulled the lamp a little closer so that the soft amber hue illuminated the page. "The Silver Wolf," I read softly under my breath.
My fingers traced the page as I began to read. The strange text had stopped moving, now appearing to be printed just like any other book. For a moment, I wondered if it was some kind of special paper- perhaps it reacted to the oils in my hand and the invisible ink was exposed.
Either that, or the book was magic. Fat chance for that, I knew.
"The ancient Silver Wolf is an enigma in and of itself," the book began. "A shifter with immense wisdom and power, the Silver Wolf has the ability
The longer I read, the more I felt a strange sensation overcome me. According to this book, the strange werewolf known as the 'Silver Wolf was an incredibly powerful ancient being that possessed the ability to telepathy and other forms of mental manipulation.
But that was only the beginning of it. Apparently, when mated, the Silver Wolf would enhance its entire pack-
those who served under the Silver Wolf would see boosts in strength, intelligence, speed, and many other things.
"The Silver V Wolf alway's manifests as a woman during her reincarnations," the book continued as I turned the page. "Essentially, the Silver Wolf is the chosen Luna of her pack."
“Huh,” I muttered to myself, my finger lingering on that word- Luna. The female leader of a pack, an Alpha's counterpart.
But that wasn't all "The Silver Wolf, although ancient and powerful, could also trigger a battle amongst Alphas for dominance. Of course everyone wanted her as his Luna-
after all, she could provide the entire pack with a golden age.
"The most distinctive feature is the Silver Wolf's pure silver hair. Some say that she was kissed by the moon itself, and carries its power in every strand."
Instinctively, my fingers fl
fluttered up to touch my hair as a frown trembled across my li
lips. Silver hair...
I had been dying my hair black for as long as I could remember ever since my parents had adopted me, they had been teaching me how to do it. They always said that werewolves hated silver, that it would cau them to fear me.
And they were right; werewolves did hate silver. On the rare occasion that I stepped out of the house with my silver roots showing, I would get all kinds of strange and angry looks.
But nowNôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.
"No," I muttered to myself, slamming the book shut. To think that I, a human through and through, was the reincarnation of this ancient being was utterly ridiculous. I didn't even know where this book came from Sighing, I stood and returned to my cleaning-if only to get that strange book out of my head than anything else.
I spent the remainder of the evening dusting shelves and cleaning up books, taking solace in the soft feg of the leather spines against my fingers and the scent of paper in the old library. Here, where the bod towered up to the ceilings and the small lamps on each desk illuminated the space with a warm amber glow, I felt at peace.
I felt so at peace, in fact, that my cleaning lasted well into the night without even meaning to. Eventually, my feet grew sore. I sank down into a chair and laid my
head down onto the desk, thinking that if I just closed my eyes for a few moments. I could continue working
But before I knew it, I was drifting off to sleep.
* 4:35 PM
1 pulled the door open to the library and peered inside, finding it mostly dark. Only the night librarian remained-an elderly woman named Maeve who, as I had already figured out in my first couple of weeks teaching at Grayspring Academy, never looked up from whichever book she was reading behind her desk.
But I wasn't here for Maeve.
I strode past the desk and began wandering
through the tall bookshelves, taking out the occasional book on art history or design concepts to flip through for my next lesson plan. My fingers trailed over the spines as I made my way through, slowly tucking My feet stopped of their own accord when I saw the figure laying with her head on one of the ornate mahogany desks. I recognized her instantly from the shock of long black hair trailing over her slender shoulde Audrey.
For a moment, I just stood there, watching her while she slept. She had her face propped on one of her arms, her eyelashes brushing her cheekbone as her eyelid twitched in a dream. Even from where I stood, But then I saw her shiver a bit in her sleep. It was cold in here-they always kept the air colder to preserve the books-
and she was wearing nothing more than a blouse with a vest over the top and a little plaid skirt. Cute, but not very warm
Sighing. I set my books down and shrugged my jacket off. My wolf chided me all the while as I did.
"You like her," he reased.
I frowned. "She's too pure and innocent."
"For you?"
"Yes," I replied. "But also too pure and innocent to go cold in this frigid library.
Gently so as not to wake her, I laid my jacket over her shoulders and watched for another moment as she shifted comfortably beneath the sudden warmth. Seeing her like this made my heart wrench ever so slightly; someone like her, someone so sweet and soft, was a rare occurrence in the circles that I frequented.
Something about it was calming,
"She's different from the others," my wolf said, his voice echoing inside my skull. "She's.."
"My student," I retorted with a clenched jaw.
My wolf bristled at the remark. "But if she wasn't your student_?"
I quickly looked away from Audrey's sleeping form. Unbidden, memories of our night together began to resurface-
her slender form beneath me, her delicate fingers, her soft lips. The way her hair splayed out on the pillow around her, the way her lips opened in a perfect little 'O' when she
came for me.
Of course I wanted her again. But I wouldn't have her, because I was not only her professor, but also an old man in her eyes. She was, what, eighteen? I was going on thirty-
two. Far too old for her, far too old to have even enjoyed a one night stand with her.
Goddess, what had I been thinking...!
Just as I was turning to leave, however, my eye caught sight of a little dust bunny sitting on the tip of her nose. I couldn't leave her like that, of course. So, moving carefully so as not to wake her, I reached out a Bin I hadn't been careful enough. Audrey's eyes fluttered open.